Santiago

The province

Get to know Santiago

The province of Santiago occupies the center of the Cibao valley, the fertile plain between the Central and Northern mountain ranges, and rises southward to the pine-covered mountains of San José de las Matas. It is one of the country's most productive regions, with tobacco, cocoa, rice and fruits, and the capital, Santiago de los Caballeros, is the Dominican Republic's second-largest city and the commercial, university and industrial center of the north.

This guide presents the destination Santiago de los Caballeros. On top of a hill, the Monument to the Heroes of the Restoration, a white marble tower, dominates the city and recalls the war that restored the country's independence in 1865. The Centro León tells the story of the formation of the Dominican people and houses the nation's art, and in the old town are the cathedral and the Fortaleza San Luis on the banks of the Yaque del Norte river.

Santiago is the capital of the Dominican cigar: in Tamboril, a few kilometers away, and in the city itself, factories hand-roll the valley's tobacco. It is also the land of typical merengue, with accordion, tambora and güira, and of a famous carnival featuring the lechones, masked characters with horns who parade on Sundays in February.

To the south of the province, the road climbs to San José de las Matas, a mountain town with a cool climate, gateway to one of the routes to the national parks of the Central Range.